Alan, Wake Up
by TheKnightofAwesome
Summary: Thomas Zane comes to Alan with a plan to free them both from the darkness of Cauldron Lake and to stop Mr. Scratch.
1. Chapter 1: Wake Up

**A/N: This story takes place right after the conclusion of the game _Alan Wake. _It is meant to be a bridge to _Alan Wake: American Nightmare, _but at the same time isn't canon (obviously). I have yet to play _American Nightmare_ nor have I played the DLC levels, so I don't take them into consideration too much for this plot. If you haven't played _Alan Wake _I recommend playing it** **as you may not get some of the references at first**. **In the coming chapters I will do my best to explain what exactly happened in the game without deviating too far from the plot, so bear with me. **

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><p>My name is Alan Wake. I'm a writer. At least, I <em>used <em>to be a writer. I don't think I am anymore. In order to save my wife, Alice, I had to exchange her life for my own with the Dark Presence. The last thing I remember is finishing my story, the one that started everything. It was called "Departure" and I wrote it under the influence of the Dark Presence as a way to save Alice. Now I'm stuck, falling through darkness, into an endless abyss. Where I am there is no light, no hope for escape, and no hope of seeing Alice ever again.

Then, out of nowhere, I see a burst of light, and I hear a familiar voice.

"Alan, Turn the light on," it says.

The voice is that of a man, and it's gentleness as well as it's strength sooths me. I recognize it as the voice of Thomas Zane, the writer who defeated the Dark Presence back in the seventies, before I came to Bright Falls. In order to beat the darkness Zane had to write himself out of existence, but he left things behind, things that allowed me to defeat the darkness myself and save my wife.

One of these things is the clicker, the light switch with magical properties that was the tool I needed to get to Alice at the bottom of Cauldron Lake.

The clicker! I remember that it is in my hand, and in an instant I flick it, causing it to shine with a powerful light. The darkness around me begins to fade instantly, and I am no longer falling, but am now lying on the floor of the study in the cabin on Cauldron Lake. I get up and look out the window and see that the cabin is still under the waves, the view clouded by darkness.

I turn and find that Zane is standing next to me, still in his diver's suit.

"Thomas?" I ask. My voice is weak.

"Please Alan, just call me Tom. The Dark Presence was controlling you. It's a miracle that my light was able to set you free," he says.

"And Alice?" I ask.

"She is free and currently in Bright Falls." He says matter of factually.

Suddenly my eyes glisten with tears. It's been so long since I've cried, but I cannot stop myself.

"Tom, I'm so sorry, all of this is my fault. The Dark Presence, the Taken, even you have been hurt by me and my writing." I say putting my face in my hands.

The Darkness had used me to give it power, with it's strength it possessed people in Bright Falls, creating the Taken. Once they were overpowered by darkness they were as good as dead, all that was left was a shell of their former self. The only way to beat a Taken was to first destroy it's dark protections with light, only then could it be killed with conventional weapons.

"Alan, none of this was your fault, you could never have seen this coming. The darkness used you the same way it used me," says Zane, trying to cheer me up.

I manage to compose myself, turning myself back to the desk where I see that that last page of "Departure" has disappeared.

Right now there is only one question that's burning inside.

"So what happens to us now?" I ask Tom. He gives something that sounds like a sigh before speaking.

"Right now, neither of us technically exists. I don't because that was the way I wrote it, and you, because you have been replaced by Mr. Scratch. However, I suspect there may be a way for us to return."

"How?" I ask, turning back to face him.

If there was any way for me to return to Alice I would at least give it a try. She was my whole world. However, no matter how eager I was to see my wife again, I was not going to risk setting the Dark Presence loose on Bright Falls again.

"You will simply have to write your sequel to 'Departure'." says Zane.

"What? Another book?" I ask.

"Yes. The darkness will still bring the story to life. In fact it needs the story. When you destroyed the skin of my Barbara, you weakened even more than I did when I wrote myself and all I had done out of existence. The only thing that kept it alive was the works that were hidden away in the shoe box. Right now Mr. Scratch, your evil double, is the one that embodies the darkness. He needs the story if he plans to regain the Dark Presence's lost power.

"All you have to do is write the story and bring us back. You figured out how to beat the darkness in the end of 'Departure' I have no doubt you can do it again. Once we're back in reality, we'll stop the Dark Presence for good."

I wasn't fond of the plan. If I failed to write the story, then we would most likely die, I'd never see Alice again, and worse Mr. Scratch will become more powerful. So much was riding on this one gamble, but Tom seemed confident that we'd be able to pull it off.

"It's so risky, but I'll do it," I said finally.

"Perfect. Your typewriter is there where you left it," he said, indicating the desk. I looked; the typewriter was indeed sitting there right were it was before. Then in a flash of light, a stack of paper appeared.

"I kept it handy, just in case," admitted Tom. "Don't worry about being possessed as you were when you wrote 'Departure', I will protect you with my light, you will be in full control of the story.

"But know this: You must stay true to the story for this to become the sequel that we need. It must be a horror story, there have to be sacrifices, but there is no other way."

I nodded my understanding and sat at the typewriter. I placed the page inside and began to think. I had to make this right, each step had to be perfectly planned if I was to succeed. After a moment, my fingers began to pluck at the keys, and I wrote the first few words.

"_My name is Alan Wake. I'm a writer."_


	2. Chapter 2: Deja Vu

I woke up on dock that had once lead to Diver's Isle. I felt groggy, and found it difficult to sit up. I couldn't remember anything after I sat down to begin my sequel to "Departure". That may be what frightened me the most. I was grimly reminded of the night when I woke up the crashed car, the night this whole nightmare started. I wondered where Tom was, I figured he could explain what had happened.

I raised my hand to my eyes to shield them from the blinding sun, and that was when I realized where I was.

I gasped, and took in all my surroundings. I didn't seem to be wet, which meant I must've been lying here for a while, passed out. Diver's Isle was still beneath Cauldron Lake, and I couldn't see any sign of it through the murky waters. I no longer had any of my tools. My flashlight, my gun, and even the clicker were all gone.

I looked around and didn't see Tom anywhere.

"Hello? Is anybody there? Tom?" I called out into the forest, but I received no answer.

Unconsciously, I took out my phone and clicked it on. I was surprised to see that it was still working, albeit, the battery was running low. It was early morning, so I still had plenty of light left in order to get into town and to safety. I didn't know if there were still any Taken out there ready to attack me, but I wasn't going to take any chances.

I managed to get to my knees, and then onto my feet. I wondered what I was going to do; I knew that I would never be able to walk back to Bright Falls before night fell, but without a car it was still my best option. I couldn't stay out in the forest, not without a gun, and certainly not without a light of any kind.

I took one step towards the wooden stairs that lead up the mountain, and then I heard a splash coming from behind me. I turned and saw the head of Tom's diver's suit rising out of the water.

I ran to where he was, and helped him up onto the dock.

"Tom! What the hell happened?" I asked urgently. Tom got to his feet, and straightened himself before speaking.

"We were attacked by Mr. Scratch! You were so close to finishing the story, but I couldn't handle his power. I underestimated him, he's much stronger than I had anticipated and the story has only made him stronger. It took all I had to get us out alive, but I lost the pages you had already written. I suspect that either Mr. Scratch's interference or inserting yourself into the story has caused you to lose your memory, so it looks like we'll have to recover the lost pages to remember what you wrote,"

"Again?" I sighed. I wasn't looking forward to another page hunt. I also wasn't happy to hear that Scratch was so strong, or that the story was still unfinished. "But the plan worked didn't it? I mean, we're free and in the physical world,"

"Yes, you succeeded in freeing us, but in order to do so you had to insert us as the main characters. We are once again bound by the events of the story, and without an ending it could go in any direction in the end,"

"Then we'll just have to be sure Scratch doesn't get the better of us," I said matter-of-factually.

"It won't be that easy, but we have to try," he said. As he said this, Tom put his hands to the sides of his helmet and twisted it off. For the first time I saw Tom's face.

He was about my age, maybe a little older. His blond hair was short, and his blue eyes went very well with it. His face looked worn, but I didn't blame him. Tom had seen many horrors in his time, something like that would age any man. Next his suit came off, revealing the clothes he had on underneath. He wore a red flannel shirt, and a white t-shirt under that. He had on an old pair of blue jeans, which looked worn out as well, and a pair of hiking boots.

To be honest, I never pictured Tom looking like this, but now that I saw him his appearance seemed to just fit.

"We're going to have to find a way into Bright Falls before night fall, or else we wont stand a chance," I said.

"I know, let's get to the road. At the very least, we may find someone who would be willing to give us a ride," said Tom.

"Worth a shot," I replied.

We walked up the wooden stairs without saying a word. We followed the path until it spilled out into the road to Bright Falls, but at first glance I saw no one who could help us. Then I remembered my phone.

"Tom! I can call someone with my cell, and maybe get us a ride into town," I said triumphantly.

"I'd call the sheriff's department, they'd be able to get here faster than anyone else," said Tom agreeing with me.

I dialed up the she station, and after two rings the female receptionist answered.

"Bright Falls sheriff's department," she said.

"Hello? This is Alan Wake. I'm currently out on the road leading to where Diver's Isle used to be out on Cauldron Lake. I don't have a car, and I need to get back to Bright Falls. Is it possible for you to send someone out here to get me?" I asked her.

"Certainly, Mr. Wake. I'll send out a squad car right now," she said in a friendly tone. Clearly, she didn't know about what was really happening in Bright Falls, or else she would have asked. I figured she must not have been on the list of people to call Sarah had given Barry before we set out to find Cynthia Weaver.

"Thank you," I said returning her kind tone. I hung up the phone, and put it away. Then I turned back to Tom. "A squad car will be here soon. Looks like we caught a break," I said.

"So it would seem, but when we get into town we best prepare. Scratch will be after us, and we'll need to be ready to fight off everything he has to offer," said Tom grimly.

I nodded. I wasn't happy to be back in the fight, but I had no other choice. Alice could wait, if I didn't stop Scratch, she, and everyone else for that matter, would be in grave danger.


	3. Chapter 3: Reunion

It only took ten minutes for the deputies to show up. Tom and I had run out of things to say while we were waiting for them. We knew we would have to discuss it eventually, but at the time, neither of us wanted to talk about how to deal with Scratch. We had lost the clicker, which was the best weapon we could possibly wish for. Without it, we were back at square one, and I hated it.

I was sitting on a large rock, and Tom was leaning against a tree when the police car came to a stop by us. Both doors opened, and two men stepped out. The older of the two had dark brown hair, and a large brown mustache on his upper lip. He wore the basic "SHERIFF" jacket, with his badge displayed on the front, and his dark green pants matched the jacket perfectly. He looked very professional. The younger one had untidy black hair, and blue eyes. He looked energetic, and ready for anything. He too wore the "SHERIFF" jacket, but he wore jeans instead of the pants the older one was wearing, indicating he was more casual on the job.

"Mr. Wake?" asked the older deputy.

"Yeah, that's me," I answered.

"I'm Deputy Mulligan, this here's my partner Deputy Thornton," he said indicating the younger man. "I was told we need to give you a ride back to Bright Falls?"

"Yes, me and my friend, Tom, need to get back into town," I said pointing to Tom.

"Alright, get in the back, I'll get you there no problem," he said with an air of slight indifference. He got back into the driver's seat, and closed the door behind him. Thornton opened up the back door, and held it as Tom got in, followed by me.

"It's an honor to meet you, Mr. Wake," said Thornton as I started to get in.

"Pleasure's mine," I responded as the door closed.

"Leave the man alone Thornton," said Mulligan. He sounded annoyed. Along the way in my last battle against the darkness I had heard Mulligan and Thornton over the radio. I had gathered that they got along well enough, but Thornton easily got on Mulligan's nerves. I guessed that they might have been partners for a long time.

The drive took about a half hour. In that time, Mulligan had asked the usual small talk questions, such as "How my stay was?" and "Did I enjoy Bright Falls?" I answered the questions, not paying him too much mind. It wasn't until he mentioned that Alice had turned up that I got interested in what he was saying.

"Alice?" I asked, perking up at the sound of her name.

"Yeah. See, Sheriff Breaker was out by Cauldron Lake looking for leads a few days ago, and low-and-behold, your wife turns up, soaking wet, and asking where you are. Anyway, she's been at the station everyday since then, waiting to hear anything about you. Looks like today is your guy's lucky day,"

"How many days has it been since she turned up?" I asked. I was glad to hear Alice was safe, and she was with Sarah. Now I just needed to know how long I had been in that cabin.

"About five days I would say," said Thornton. Tom was remaining eerily silent. He seemed to be lost in thought. "So, uhh, what were you two doing out here anyway?" Thornton continued.

"Hiking," said Tom. "We got a little lost, and had no cell service. We eventually found the lake, and lucky for us, some signal," I was surprised he had come up with a cover story so fast, though seeing as he _was _a writer, I guess it made sense. At least it kept the deputies from asking further questions.

When we finally pulled up to the station Thornton got out and opened the door for us. The receptionist welcomed us with a friendly smile, and informed me that Sarah was expecting us in her office. Thornton and Mulligan said their goodbyes, and left the station. Tom followed me to Sarah's office. I knocked on her door, and opened. Before I had even fully stepped into the room, I was being surrounded by a pair of arms.

"Alan!" came a cry filled with fear, worry, joy, excitement, and love.

"Alice," I said hugging her back as if letting her go would mean losing her again. Her blond hair was tied back in its signature ponytail, and she was wearing a pair of skintight jeans, with a light coat over her white t-shirt. When we let go of each other, I was gripped in another bear hug; this time from Barry.

"Ha ha! Al, I knew you could do it! I just _knew!"_ he said. I looked over and saw Sarah leaning on her desk.

"Nice job, Wake," she said with a proud smile.

"So it's finally over, right? We beat this thing?" asked Barry, triumphantly.

"Unfortunately, no." I said in a dull tone. "In fact, that was only the beginning,"

At my words, all joy seemed to have been sucked out of the room. No one was smiling, Barry looked confused, but also frightened. Even Sarah, who was cool under pressure, looked scared.

"Alan, what do you mean?" asked Alice in a worried voice.

"He means Barbara Jagger was defeated, but there is a new threat. This is far from over," said Tom.

"And you are?" asked Sarah, giving Tom a questioning look.

"Thomas Zane, a writer who aided Alan in his last battle against the Dark Presence," he said. Sarah looked taken aback, but Barry's eyes widened as he recognized the name. In the early stages of our little adventure, Barry had done some digging through the dust on anything involving Cauldron Lake. Some of the information he found involved Zane and Jagger.

"When I was at the bottom of Cauldron Lake, the Dark Presence made a copy of me, called Mr. Scratch. With Jagger gone, Scratch has become the new face of the Dark Presence. When I freed Tom and myself from the cabin, I had to write another story, and that made Scratch more powerful. We have to stop him before he destroys everything," I said summing up our situation.

"So then, what's our next move?" asked Sarah.

"First things first. Barry, I need you to take Alice away from Bright Falls. Today," I said.

"What? Alan! I can't leave without you!" Alice pleaded.

"You have to, I have to stay and fight Scratch, but I can't keep you in harms way. It would be best if you were as far away from here as possible," I said. This wasn't easy for me, but I had to keep Alice safe. "Barry can you do that?" I asked.

"Yeah… yeah I can do that," his voice was very somber, as he understood how much this meant to me. "Alice listen to him, it's too dangerous," he said.

Alice didn't look happy about this, but she didn't complain anymore. I turned back to Sarah.

"I think it's safe to assume we'll be dealing with more Taken. We'll need to prepare accordingly. I think we'll need to keep the people alert, but don't tell them exactly what's going on. They'd never believe us. Also, we don't want to start a panic," I said. Sarah nodded.

"Ok, I'll send out another alert call to that list, it should let everyone know to be wary without divulging too much information," she said. "I'll also make some calls and get your wife and Barry out of here as soon as possible,"

"I'd appreciate that," I replied. With that Sarah left the room to make her calls, Barry followed her. After a brief pause, Tom went out as well, I figured he wanted to give Alice and I some alone time. I walked over to her, wrapping my arms around her, I kissed her gently on the forehead.

"I don't want to leave you," she said in a weak voice.

"I know," I replied in a soft tone. "But Mr. Scratch will try to use anything he can against me. I'm not going to lose you to the darkness again,"

"I know you just want to protect me, but I'm going to worry about you everyday that you're gone,"

"Don't be worried. I can, and will win this fight. Even against the smallest ray of light the darkness must fall,"

Alice didn't say anything to that, but I could tell she was on the verge of tears. I simply tightened my grip around her, to tell her that no matter what I would return to her. I glanced at the clock, it read noon. If Barry acted fast, he could easily be home and free of the Dark Presence here before night fell.

Alice and I left the office. Walking around the corner, we were met by Sarah who informed us that transportation for Barry and Alice had been arranged. Barry was already waiting for her in the car he had rented.

I walked Alice out of the station, and opened the car door for her. Before she got in, she hugged me one last time, and whispered softly in my ear.

"You will always be my light," she said. I didn't say anything to that, but before I closed the door I looked very seriously at Barry.

"Take care of her," I said.

"Of course," he replied. I watched as he drove off with Alice, away from the horror that was to become Bright Falls. When they were out of sight, I walked back inside where Tom and Sarah were waiting for me.

"Now what?" she asked me.

"We prepare," I answered.


	4. Chapter 4: Nightfall

Sarah took Zane and me down in to the storage area for the Sherriff station. There were shelves and lockers filled with guns and ammo. There were also some flashlights and a store of batteries.

"Let's take what we need, but try to be thrifty, we can't make it too obvious that we're taking this stuff. Deputy Grant at the front desk is no pushover, she'll know something's up," said Sarah.

I grabbed a pistol and a flare gun. I also filled my pockets with ammunition for the guns. From experience I knew I could hold about forty-two rounds of pistol ammo, and about twelve flares. I tucked the guns into the inside pocket of my tweed jacket.

Tom grabbed a hunting rifle, and enough rounds to last him a while. He stuffed the supplies into a duffle bag to keep it hidden from view, as not to draw attention. He also put in a few flashlights and batteries.

Sarah began to stock up on shotgun ammo for the gun I knew she had up in her office. She held them in her hands, it would be easier for her to convince Deputy Grant that she was simply replenishing her stash in her office.

When we were safely back in Sarah's office, she shut the door and turned back to Tom and me.

"So now that we have the supplies, what's our plan of action?" she asked. "We have to go looking for this guy right?"

"No, that would be suicide. Actually, this whole situation is suicide, but that would just be making Scratch's job easier," replied Tom. "No we need to make him come to us,"

"How?" I asked.

"I doubt he'd attack us here in the town," said Sarah.

"No he would, just not yet. No, he'd need a stronger force. When I confronted him in the cabin he was still too weak for an attack like that. We could go into the woods, where he'd more likely attack us. But we'd need shelter,"

"Technically I never checked out of the cabin at Elderwood," I said, remembering the keys in my pocket. "We could stay there,"

"Perfect. We'll hold out there, and confront Scratch. If we're lucky he'll face us head on, if not. We'll at least get a small glimpse of what exactly we're facing," said Tom. I wasn't sure if I liked his plan. It seemed too risky to me. But as far as I could tell we had no other options.

Just then, from the corner of my eye, I spotted a sheet of paper caught in the window. Without hesitation, I moved towards it, and opened the window. The paper began to blow away, but I managed to grasp it between my fingers just before it got out of reach. I pulled it inside, and shut the window. At the sight of the paper, Tom's eyes widened.

"Alan…is that-" he asked.

"Yeah, A Manuscript page," I answered cutting him off. I held the paper in my hands, and began to read.

_The air was cold, but not as cold as the look in the figure's eyes. He approached the cabin with an air of malice, and I walked out the door to get a better look, my pistol in hand. The man emerged from the fog, and looked me in the eye. _

_It was like looking in a mirror. But the face was distorted by shadows. He carried no weapons, but the Taken behind him did. _

"_Hello, writer," he said in a mocking tone. "It's good to see you again,"_

The page ended. But I got the gist of what it was saying.

"Looks like he's going to show after all," I said to the others. 'We'd better be ready for him,"

Sarah took us in her car to Elderwood National Park. I directed her to the cabin, and when we arrived the three of us walked up the stairs and into the cabin. The sun was starting a slow decline into the horizon, and the temperature was beginning to lower because of it.

We were all inside before nightfall, and the lights of the cabin were on before dusk. We weren't going to take any chances.

Hours passed in the night without any sort of movement in the night. And then suddenly, there was a great roar.

The sound shook my very being, it was a sound that was all too familiar. It was the sound the Dark Presence made as it approached me.

"He's coming!" I yelled to the others. I ran over to the window, clicking on my flashlight, and pulling out my gun as I did so. I was ready to face down whatever Mr. Scratch had to throw at me.


	5. Chapter 5: Confrontation

It didn't take long for the attack on the cabin to start. Taken began to swarm, pounding on the doors and windows of the cabin. Their guttural roars, and their axes sent chills down my spine. It didn't help that they looked like regular people, albeit, with murder in their eyes.

The sheer numbers alone were terrifying. There were at least twenty at the windows now, but I could see more approaching. The three of us began to shine our lights on the monsters. There were screams from outside as the darkness began to burn away. Brief flashes of light signaled that more and more Taken were vulnerable to regular damage, however, I wasn't going to open fire just yet. As long as they stayed outside, we were safe.

The safety didn't last long though. Within seconds the Taken smashed through one of the windows and were beginning to grope inside.

"Open fire!" yelled Sarah. I didn't hesitate on that command. I took aim with my pistol and shot at the Taken. A few went down easy, and disappeared in flashes of light. However, there were always more to take their place.

"Dammit! Where _is _he?" I yelled over the gunfire. Sarah and Tom were fighting hard, but more and more Taken were showing up, smashing more of the cabin's windows.

"We're sitting ducks in here!" Tom called out.

"Hell!" I yelled. I switched my pistol for my flare gun, and shot one flare into the crowd of Taken. In a burst of red light, Taken were thrown back, and several were destroyed.

I took advantage of this opening, and ran for the door. I figured if I could get moving, I would have a better chance of survival. In my mind, this strategy seemed to make sense.

"Follow me!" I called to the others. As I ran I could feel them on my heels. We burst out into the cold night air.

As we made it out, there was a dark shimmer on the edge of the clearing. I looked and Mr. Scratch materialized in front of us.

"Enough of this!" he barked in my voice. As if he flipped a switch, the Taken stopped and backed away from us, fading into the darkness. Hatred filled my heart as I looked at Scratch. I hated him for continuing the nightmare, for dragging me back into this mess.

"Scratch!" I yelled into the night.

"Hello, writer," he said in a cool voice. He was mocking me. "It's good to see you again," My heart skipped a beat as I remembered the words on the page.

"Come to face me then?" I asked, trying to act undaunted by his attitude.

"Not quite, it was written that I'd come, so I came. I'm not going to lie though; I wish I could have finished you here. But there is still time before the story stops. When it _does _stop…then you're free game. And I intend to win. The ending isn't set in stone, meaning there are an infinite number of possible outcomes. I suppose we could thank each other for this possibility, but that would be redundant,"

I growled in frustration. If I had only finished the ending, then we could all be done with this.

"I wont leave you with nothing though," he continued. "I have no use for these anymore," he raised up a bunch of sheets of paper. The rest of the manuscript.

"You sonofabitch!" I said through my teeth. He simply smiled, and with a gust of air strew the pages across the grass.

"Until next time then," he said before vanishing.

It was a minute before I could say anything; I was so wrapped up in my own rage.

"Collect the pages," I said to Sarah and Tom. We worked in silence, gathering the pages before the wind could steal them from us. Once we had them all, we moved inside and began to look for clues as to what was going to happen next.

Most of it was irrelevant, and we discarded it all, until we found a page that greatly disturbed me. It read:

_Scratch lusted for power, but the meager amount the writer had given him wasn't enough. He needed more; he needed to become stronger if he was going to reach his goal. _

_There was only one solution; he would have to destroy the town. He could harvest the negative energy, and become as strong as he needed to be. Not even the writer could stop him. _

"My God…" I whispered when I read it.

"Wake? What do we do now?" asked Sarah, I could tell she was just as frightened as I was.

"I…I don't know…" was my reply.


	6. Chapter 6: Endgame

We spent the night in the cabin, but the next morning, we went straight back to the police station. We rode in silence all the way there. There was nothing any of us could say. I didn't want to talk to them either. On some extent I felt guilty. Actually I took all of the blame for this whole mess. I had written that Scratch would plan to destroy the town. I did all of this. The worst part was that without an ending, this could very well come to pass. What was I supposed to say? "I'm sorry" just didn't seem to cut it.

Zane was the one who broke the silence first, albeit not for very long.

"All we can do now is do our best to stop him. There's nothing else any of us can do," he said. He was right. The only way to give the story an ending was to go back to the cabin, and finish the story in the typewriter there. But without the clicker I couldn't do that, and quite frankly I didn't _want _to do that. I might end up stuck there again, and the whole plan would have been for nothing.

We were thrown back into the crushing silence of the car ride back into town. I don't think any of us expected what we found waiting for us at the Sherriff Station.

As soon as I stepped out of the car, there came a shill voice.

"What have you done, boy?" it shrieked. I looked to see Cynthia Weaver standing behind me. I was very much surprised to see her. Though I can't imagine why. She was so heavily involved in my last battle.

"Ms. Weaver?" I asked, unable to keep the shock out of my voice. "What are you doing here?"

"I came because I felt the Dark Presence again last night! How could you have released it _again! _You stupid, young fool!" she cried.

Just then, Tom stepped out of the car. Cynthia immediately froze. The look of shock on her face was mixed with a look of awe.

"T-Tom?" she asked in a quivering voice. "It can't be…"

"Yes, Cynthia, It's me. Tom," He replied. He smiled gently, he was clearly happy to see her.

I remembered back to when I was walking toward the Well-Lit Room with Cynthia, she mentioned how she was jealous of Barbara Jagger for being so close to Tom. And before that, I remember seeing her light-sensitive paint on the walls of an old, run down mansion. Most of it was the word 'Tom' over and over again. There was also a giant heart, with the initials 'C.W.' and 'T.Z.' inside of it. It didn't take a genius to figure it out. Curiously however, there was one sentence among the scrawl that stood out, 'I curse you Thomas Zane!' was what it read. Clearly Cynthia had mixed feelings over Tom.

Snapping back to reality, I heard Cynthia mumbling, wondering how Tom had come back.

"It doesn't matter how I got here, what matters is we're safe for now. Let's step inside shall we?" said Tom, motioning toward the door.

We all nodded and walked inside. We were moving toward Sarah's office when Cynthia stopped Tom.

"Wait! There is so much I want to talk to you about, Tom!" Tom smiled and looked back at Sarah and me.

"I'll meet you inside, give me a minute with Cynthia," he said.

"Of course Mr. Zane, You should catch up with your friend. We'll be in my office when you're ready. Sarah and I walked into her office without them. I leaned against the wall, Sarah sat at her desk.

"Isn't it nice how they met up again?" said Sarah after a while.

"Hmm?" I asked.

"Cynthia and Tom. I've never seen Ms. Weaver look at a man like she did Tom. Are they old friends?"

"She was a close friend of his back when the Dark Presence attacked the first time back in the seventies," I said. Sarah nodded in understanding. I think she knew why Tom looked so young, but in actuality, I'm not entirely sure how much of the situation she really understood. From what I knew of Sarah, she knew there was a threat, and it was her duty to stop it. She never asked questions about what we were doing, never gave a second thought to the Taken we faced. She knew it was supernatural, but didn't care. In a way it was admirable, how she went headlong into danger, without full knowledge just to protect her town.

More silence passed between us.

"We're going to need a lot of light," I said after a while.

"To deal with Scratch?" asked Sarah.

"Yeah. Maybe if we had a bunch of search lights trained on him all at once, we could destroy him,"

"I suppose that's a possibility," she replied thoughtfully. "But getting that much light will take time, and who knows when Scratch is going to strike?" This was true. We may have known what Scratch was planning, but we didn't have a time. For all we knew, we were down to a matter of hours.

Even more time passed, and still there was no word from Tom or Cynthia. It then occurred to me, that I was still wearing the same clothes. This came off as a little strange to me, but then again, hygiene wasn't my biggest concern this last week.

"Is there a place I could change?" I asked Sarah sheepishly. This got a chuckle out of her.

"Sure, come with me." She said getting up. I still had my luggage from when we first arrived in Bright Falls, Alice hadn't left me with nothing. Sarah led me to the staff bathroom, and handed me the bag Alice had left behind.

I thanked Sarah and went inside and stripped off the clothes I had been wearing for almost two weeks now. Inside the bag, I found a white t-shirt, a red and white checkered button down, some jeans, and fresh undergarments. I put on the clothes, and walked over to the sink to splash water on my face. It felt soothing, but it didn't wash away the smell, unfortunately.

When I walked back into Sarah's office, Tom and Cynthia had rejoined the group. There was an air of stillness. As if everyone had been waiting for me, just as Sarah and I had waited for Tom.

"Well, now that we're all here, let's address the issue," said Tom. "We're going to need a lot of light to beat Scratch, I think if we trapped him in the station, and used flares and the lights in here, we can weaken him enough to kill him off conventionally,"

"But Scratch is extremely powerful," I said. "Would trapping him in here work?"

"We'd have to bait him inside," replied Sarah.

"So I'm guessing I'm the bait?" I said.

"He does seem to have a deep animosity towards you," said Tom. "It makes sense that you would be able to draw him here,"

I looked out the window, and I saw that the sun was setting. Dusk was arriving.

"He'll be coming soon," I said, indicating red sky.

"So it would seem," replied Tom. "We'd best get ready," We gathered as many flares, flare guns, and lights as we possibly could. All other officers were gone, we were alone in the station. This was actually in our advantage, as no one would question what we were up to. As we worked, the sun lowered into the horizon, turning dusk into twilight.

I stepped outside, it was time to become the bait. All I had on me was my flashlight, and my pistol. It wasn't much, but I wasn't meant to kill Scratch just yet. That came later. As the darkness grew, I felt it grow colder as well. Scratch was almost here.

Just then, I heard The familiar scream of the Dark Presence. In a pillar of smoke Scratch appeared before me. He was dressed in his black suit, his hair slicked back. The same cocky grin on his smug face. My heart burned with hatred of this man. Of me.

"I believe we've reached the end of the story, writer. But I intend to be the one who comes out on top!" he said menacingly.

"This is going to end only one way!" I shouted back. "And you're not going to like the ending!" He began to walk towards me. It was perfect, I could back up, and lead him into the trap.

"What? No Taken with you?" I taunted. I had to keep him talking, so he wouldn't suspect anything.

"I don't need them. They are merely pawns in our glorious game. Besides, you've proven that Taken are no match for you. I figure if I want the job done right, I'd better do it myself," all the while he was getting closer to me. I began to back up toward the station in mock fear, I had to keep him advancing at all costs.

Finally I reached the front door of the station, and I began to back into the hall. Scratch began to follow me inside. The plan was going flawlessly. When I backed into the counter, Scratch took his turn for a taunt.

"You're all out of room, writer. Time to end this!" he said.

"Now!" I cried, and as soon as I did, the lights flew on, flares went off, I trained my own light on Scratch and shot a few flares at him. There was screaming, and a horrible sound I'm sure I will remember for the rest of my life.

Next we all began to fire our bullets, we wanted to wound Scratch before he had time to regain his composure. We all fired, I shot my pistol, Sarah, her shotgun, and Tom his hunting rifle.

Then we stopped and let the dust clear. We were all breathing heavily. Ms. Weaver even stepped out of Sarah's office to see what had happened. When the dust settled, there was no trace of Scratch.

"Where is he?" demanded Sarah.

"Perhaps he disappeared like the Taken or Barbara," I said.

"So…did we win?" asked Cynthia. But before anyone could answer, a horrible laugh pierced the air. It started very subtle, but it evolved and escalated to a full on cackle, then to an evil laugh so menacing, I'm sure it would haunt my nightmares for months to come. Assuming I lived that long.

As the laugh went on, the lights began to burst, and fade to darkness. There was no longer any light in the room, save for the light coming from our flashlights. Finally, when all light was extinguished, the laughter stopped.

"I'll say, that was a good effort. But it was all in vain!" Then the door burst open, and a trail of smoke came into the room, it was like a hovering snake. An entity in itself. It hovered there for a moment, before making a beeline for Cynthia. She froze due to fear, and the smoke got ever closer to her.

However, before it could reach her, Tom jumped in front of her.

"You will not have her too!" he roared. Anger and hatred dripped from his voice. He would do anything to protect her, much like how I felt about Alice.

"Tom! No!" I shouted, but it was too late. Tom disappeared into the dark smoke and was no more.

"Tom!" wailed Ms. Weaver, but it didn't last very long, as the smoke circled around and swallowed her as well. Rage burst forth from me.

"Scratch! You sonofabitch!" I roared. "I'll destroy you!" Then the smoke went for Sarah, but I would have none of it. I stepped in front of Sarah, and brandished my flashlight like a shield. With the power of my will, the light from the flashlight began to grow, and become more powerful.

"You won't destroy this town! I'm going to take you away from here. Far away! And then I will hunt you down! And I _will _kill you! That's a promise!" as I spoke the light grew even more, the smoke began to scream out as if it was in pain. Soon the light was enveloping both the smoke and myself.

Somewhere in the distance, I could hear Sarah call my name. But it didn't matter anymore. Scratch was my target. In a burst of light, Bright Falls disappeared from under my feet, and Scratch and I were carried away, into the darkness.

-  
>I was walking alone now, the smokey darkness surrounded me. All I had was my flashlight, and the pistol. I looked around frantically for Scratch, but he wasn't in sight.<p>

Then, I thought I caught him out of the corner of my eye. I turned, but there was nothing there. Out of the darkness there was a laugh.

"I'll catch you eventually!" I yelled.

"Maybe so," came Scratch's voice from the darkness. "But what will you do then? By then, I'll have everything you love," As he said this, I was thrown back, and darkness clouded my vision.

Then I was thrown hard into the ground, and the darkness began to recede. I was alone, on a trail, which appeared to wind through a forest.

Without a second thought, I set out after Scratch.

**A/N: So thanks for sticking with the story this long. This is the end, I did my best to bridge the first game to American Nightmare, ending with the opening cutscene from the arcade game. I really hope you enjoyed it. To my fans, thank you for your support. This has been fun, and I can't wait to start more stories. **


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